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Beyond Water Harvesting: A Soil Hydrology Perspective on Traditional Southwestern Agricultural Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven Dominguez  and
Kenneth E. Kolm
Steven Dominguez
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164
Kenneth E. Kolm
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164
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Abstract

This article presents a hypothetical, general model that describes the processes involved in one aspect of traditional Southwestern agriculture: the interactions between soil hydrology and farming technology. In conjunction with extensive participation in hand cultivation with Hopi farmers, studies of soil hydrologic processes in Hopi maize fields have identified hydrological processes directly linked to Hopi field location criteria and farming practices. Field location criteria select for locations where soil textures and soil profile heterogeneity control rates of moisture infiltration, as well as loss to runoff, bare soil evaporation, and drainage. Farming practices, including clearing, maintenance, plant spacing, seed depth, and planting pit morphology, operate in conjunction with soil profile attributes to increase the amount of moisture available to plants and the mobility of that moisture. Effects of both soil profile attributes and farming practices are integrated into the discrete soil volume model of hydrologic processes occurring in the basic unit of Hopi farming, the individual plant clump. This information provides basic insights on ways archaeologists might evaluate the productive potentials of soils, the extent of farmable land around prehistoric communities, and the ranges of climate conditions that permit crop growth on that land.

Résumé

Résumé

Este artículo presenta un modelo hipotético y general que describe los procesos implicados en un aspecto de la agricultura tradicional del sudoeste: las interacciones entre la hidrología del suelo y la tecnología del cultivo. Conjuntamente con la participación extensiva del cultivo a mano con los granjeros Hopi, los estudios de los procesos hidrológicos del suelo en campos del maíz del Hopi han identificado procesos hidrológicos directamente ligados a los criterios de localización de los campos Hopi y a sus prácticas agrícolas. Los criterios de localización de los campos privilegian texturas del suelo, y donde la heterogeneidad en la textura controla la infiltración del agua, así como la pérdida superficial del agua, la evaporación de los suelos escasos, y drenaje al suelo profundo. Las prácticas agrícolas, incluyendo el mantenimiento, el espaciamiento de la planta, la profundidad de la semilla, y morfología de hoyos de plantación, funcionan conjuntamente con cualidades del perfil del suelo para aumentar la cantidad de humedad disponible para las plantas y la movilidad de esa humedad. Los efectos de los atributos del perfil del suelo y de las prácticas agrícolas se integran en el modelo ”discrete soil volume” de los procesos hidrológicos que ocurren en la unidad básica del cultivo Hopi, la parcela. Esta información proporciona ideas nuevas y básicas en las maneras en que los arqueólogos pueden evaluar los potenciales productivos de suelos, la extensión de la tierra arable alrededor de comunidades prehistóricas, y las condiciones del clima que permiten el crecimiento de cosecha en esa tierra.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 70 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 732 - 765
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2005

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